Lesson 1: Don't make your mother cry.

With my shoulders slumped, eyes cast towards the ground, I dragged my feet
on the cobblestone pathway that lead the to the large, well lit wooden house
in front of me. Something inside of me told me that I might have gone too far this
time, but with the current situation at hand, I mentally assumed that fact
was obvious. Although, you don't know what I'm talking about,
so I suppose I'll start from the beginning.





Basically, it was a rather typical day for my family. I was sitting
on the computer, playing some game when my mom burst through
the door and stood angrily by my side. I, on the other hand,
ignored her and continued my game, as I was just finishing the last level
and didn't want to be disturbed. Though, my mom wasn't having
any of that and started yelling at me to get off the computer, and
do my homework and chores like I'm suppose to do.

"Bad enough you're already failing school" She muttered, and I snapped.





I jumped off the computer, and the fighting match between us started.
There wasn't a day in this household where somebody wasn't yelling at
somebody. I know I wasn't making it better, and I knew i was slacking
off, But I was sick of hearing remarks about how worthless I was. So, my
mom and I started yelling, our voices echoing through the room;
you could have cut the tension with a knife if you wanted to.

"Why do you always have to treat me like I don't have a future?!" I
screamed, or something along those lines.

"With the way you're acting, letting your grades drop, I wouldn't be
surprised if you didn't have a future! Why couldn't you just be
like your brother?!" She shrieked back.

I think this is where I might have lost control.





My brother, Gale, is perfect at everything. He passed school with
the top grades of his entire class, went to college and graduated
with a 4.0, then got married to a beautiful girl. He was the shining
star of the family, while I was the "loser with no future ahead of
me". I always looked up to him, until I realized I was always being
scrutinized by my parents for not being like him. So, I began to
loathe him a bit. Until he moved out, we were enemies.

So this remark made me loose control and I began screaming at my
mom like I never had before, calling her the worst names I could think
of. Anything insulting that came to mind, I said it. And, sure enough,
there were repercussions to my actions. My mom our in tears, and sure
enough, my dad rolled in, his face boiled red with anger.





With heavy steps, my father stomped right into my face and began yelling
at me, telling me that this was the last straw. He had had enough of
my childish behavior and told me If i couldn't act like an adult and follow
their rules, I was not to live there any longer. The shock of this hit me like a bag of bricks
just slamming into my face, and I felt my knees grow weak.





"Y-Y-you can't be serious!" I cried, desperation filling my voice.

My dad let narrowed eyes glare in my direction, and said, "You'll
just have to live with someone else until you decide to grow up."

And, that, was the end of that. He turned to my mom, gently
took her by the shoulders and eased her out of my room, her
sobs now stifled by the walls between us. I stood in my room,
mouth agape, staring blankly at the floor. My mind was a flurry
of thoughts, but the only one I really understood was, "what in
the world have you done, you idiot."





I was brought out of my absent state-of-mind when I heard my dad
bark from the other room, "Alexander Eyre, you march your butt right
out here!"

I quickly hurried out of my room, and sat down on the couch in front
of them. My mom was in the corner by the window, staring worriedly
at my dad, and my dad picked up the phone and began dialing. I
dropped my head in my hands, and for the next four hours, the three
of us sat in the living room, wondering who I was going to end up staying
with. It was about six in the evening when we finally got an 'okay'.
My brother. Gale.
He decided to take me in, and my father began telling him what a
wonderful brother he was, and how he was helping them out so much.
As soon as he hung up, my dad led me to my room and told me to pack
my things. There wasn't much to take, but I grabbed some clothes out
of my dresser and they called a taxi to come get me.





After two hours of sitting in the taxi, I was relieved when it finally stopped
and pulled over. I paid the fare with money my dad had given me, and
stood on the curb, staring at the house for a while.
So this is where we are now. My brothers porch, with me being depressed.
I quickly hopped up the stairs and rang the doorbell. A few moments later,
the door opened and a familiar face emerged. A nervous smile, and a gesture
to come inside.

So I did.

Once inside, Gale turned to me with a sorrowful look on his face and sighed.
"Welcome to casa de Gale, little bro." And following those words,
he reached his arms out and brought me into an embrace.
This was going to be one hell of a ride.

--------------------------------




Lesson 2: Always be grateful.

It was a bit awkward for a moment, after I explained the situation to Gale,
but he took it well and patted me gently on the shoulder, telling me that
things would end up well eventually. That's Gale for you, the good ole'
optimistic brother. After we chatted aimlessly for a minute or two, he
led me into the kitchen and a large smile grew on his face.

"I think you two have met before, but in case you haven't, Alex, this is
my wife Kaitlin." Gale said, gesturing at the women standing by the sink.

There was a pause for a moment, then she placed the plate she was
cleaning into the sink and turned around, smiling gently at me. I tried
my best not to blush, but I don't think it worked too well. I nervously
began scratching the back of my neck. Oh, I knew Kaitlin alright. We'd
met once before, at their wedding. She was probably the prettiest girl
I'd ever seen, and I was angry that Gale had gotten her.

"Ahaha, It's a pleasure to re-meet you Alex. Feel free to call me Kait" She
welcomed, still smiling.

"Y-yeah, same to you" I said, and mentally kicked myself for stuttering.






The three of us talked for a little but, slowly aware of the time. Finally,
Kaitlin yawned, stretched her arms out above her head and sighed. Gale
gently kissed her on the check and told her to go get some sleep. Laughing,
she nodded and gave me a quick wave and departed the kitchen. I
followed her with my eyes as she ascended the stairs, and then i heard Gale
sigh as well.

"I didn't realize it was so late. Let me show you to your room, Alex." He said,
and I responded with a nod.

We left the kitchen, and followed the same route Kaitlin took, up the stairs.
I glanced around quickly, and decided that my brother had a pretty neat
place. It would take some getting used to, but his house was definitely
more homey than home. I quickly hurried after my brother and he pointed to my room.





"This room here is yours" He said, now facing me. "That room - the one
across from yours- is our study, for, well, studying."

I lightly chuckled, and he continued to give me a run-down of the upstairs.
The room across the hall from mine was the master bedroom, and the
bathroom was next to their room. It was fairly simple, and I smiled, giving
him a thumbs up. "Got it."





It was now time for Gale to yawn, and he patted me on the shoulder
- AGAIN - and turned around after wishing me a good sleep. I watched
him as he walked down the hall, and I realized that I should probably
thank him. "Ah, uhmm. . ."

Stopping in his tracks, Gale turned around and raised an eyebrow at me.
"Yeah? A question?" He asked, blinking.

I shook my head tentatively, and glanced nervously at the ground. "I just
wanted to thank you. You know, for taking me in and everything, since
I know you didn't have to."

Gale smiled warmly at me, and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. What
are brothers for?" he asked, before saying 'goodnight' again.
The door shut behind him, and I stood in the hall for a moment, letting the
feeling of embarrassment leave my system. I'm sure by now you can tell that
I get nervous and/or embarrassed easily. It's annoying, but oh well.
So, after I stared at Gale and Kaitlins door for like, five minutes, I turned
around and opened my door and stood in the middle of the room.
I couldn't help but laugh, because all of my brothers old
posters and stuff were hanging around my room. Oh, geez.

Sleep is probably contagious.
I must have caught it when Gale said goodnight, because suddenly I was feeling drowzy and
the room was turning a bit blurry. So, on that note, I quickly changed into some pajamas that
were in the dresser ( I'll have to thank Gale for that too, darn it ) and
climbed into bed.





---


I woke up the next morning with a horrible headache. I had had a nightmare,
where my parents had kicked me out and I was now staying with my
brother. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and stared at the room in front of me.
This. Was. Not. My. ROOM.

I spent a good hour and a half freaking out, trying to remember what I did
last night that could have possibly lead me to some strange room. Then, I
remembered. The yelling. The making my mom cry. The getting kicked out.
I shook my head, and realized that the nightmare I had was no dream,
but was seriously my reality. I dragged myself warily out of bed and
shuffled down the hall and down the stairs. The smell of pancakes wafted
into my nostrils and my feet led me into the kitchen.

Kaitlin was standing by the stove, pan in hand. She must have heard me
come in, because she half turned around and smiled.
"Well, good morning mr. sleepyhead" She teased, before turning back to
her pancakes. I grunted in response, and glanced around.





"Guhhhhh. . . where is Gale?" I asked, and she pointed out the window.
Outside? So early? My brother was nuts.

"Listen, go tell Gale that breakfast is ready. Please?" Kaitlin suddenly asked,
and I nodded my head, dragged myself out of the kitchen and through the
sliding door. It was kind of cold out side, but I didn't really notice. Their
backyard was really nice; full of fruit trees and even a greenhouse.
The entire place was memorizing. It was then that I noticed Gale, who was
currently in the greenhouse, doing what seemed to be pulling weeds.





Shaking my head, I mentally
muttered something and called out to my brother. Standing up, he waved
at me and I pointed inside, then at my mouth. He seemed to get the idea, so
I went back inside and sat down. Kaitlin placed a plate in front of me, and
then sat down on the opposite side of the table. Gale soon joined us, and
the two of them began talking about their plants, like what was ripe, or
ready or whatever. Beats me, really. Though, soon they turned their
conversation to something we could all talk about, and I have to say.
Best breakfast ever.





We all finished around the same time, and I felt like being nice and took
the plates into the kitchen myself. Might as well do something, you know?
Gale followed after me, and began talking to me about school.

"So, listen. I figure with everything going on, you could probably miss a day
or two of school." Gale said absently, watching the ceiling. I stopped doing
the dishes, turned around and stared at him breathlessly. My Brother?
Encouraging me to miss school? I stared at him, and he just laughed,
continuing on. "Plus, you're also in a different district so you'll have to change
schools. I have to go and get some forms for you to fill out, but hopefully
you can just get right back into it."

I merely nodded my head. I wasn't worried about my other school
because, frankly, it sucked. It's not really worth getting into though.

"But, since you are missing school, you have to make me a deal-" He sent
me a look, and I just nodded again. "-While you're not in school, you have
to help Kait and I out with our plants. Got it?"

I nodded, and he seemed satisfied. So, with that, he turned around and left
the kitchen, probably to go find Kaitlin. I shrugged, thinking,
'How hard can it possibly be?'

---------------





Lesson 3: Hard work pays off. . . .
eventually.

I must have been really naive to think that helping my brother with his garden
wouldn't be hard. I guess I always under estimated gardeners. Do you have
any idea how difficult it is to yank, tear and pull weeds out of the ground?
I suddenly hold a lot of respect for gardeners, and their upper body strength.
But, before we get more into that, let's start off with the beginning of the day.

My brother woke up me this morning around eight, telling me to put on some
comfortable clothes. Now, I was still half asleep, and I thought I was
dreaming, so I thought Gale had come on to me by telling me that he was
going to "slip into something more comfortable". I shot out of bed and scared
Gale half the death. After vaugely explaining to him that I had a "nightmare",
he left to get dressed himself, and I got out of bed. Sometimes, I think I
really am a freak. I got dressed, and followed normal morning routines, like
brushing my hair, my teeth, going to the bathroom, ect. It was about eight
thirty when I finally made it downstairs. Kaitlin was still sleeping, or something
and Gale was already outside. I grabbed a piece of bread from the kitchen,
and walked outside to meet Gale, who was cutting leaves from one of their
various trees.

He explained to me that I needed to pull the weeds that were growing around
the tomato plants in the greenhouse, and I set right on it thinking that it
would be a piece of cake.

Two hours later, I realized I was dead wrong.





In fact, two hours later, I had cuts on my hands, my knees were incredibly
sore and it was hard to uncurl my fingers. I was only half down with the
weeding process, and I couldn't believe how difficult this was. Gale, on the
other hand, was still tending and spraying the trees, and I suddenly wondered
if that was an easier job.





Around noonish (The sun was right above us, so i'm assuming it was noon)
Gale joined in me the greenhouse and started helping me pull weeds. I heard
him snicker once or twice in my direction, and it was obvious that he was
laughing at me. After a couple of minutes of me grunting, falling over, or
making various noises, I heard Gale say:

"Not as easy as you thought, huh?" he mocked, tearing out some weeds.
"You tricked me." I muttered, keeping my eyes on the plants.

The rest of the day flew by, and so did the next day, and the day after that.
Gale hadn't said anything more about school, and I didn't remind him. I mean,
I was already pretty preoccupied with this gardening thing, so I figured he
probably was too. Although, after three days, the fruit of our labor were
finally starting to show. One of the trees Gale tended to daily had finally
produced some oranges. I think I was more excited than he was, so he
allowed me the honor of harvesting them.





I was a little worried about Gale, since he seemed rather distant in the past
two days. I didn't really blame him though, since I walked in on Kaitlin
throwing up at least four times. He had taken her to the doctor the first day
we started gardening together, and they hadn't heard any results. I
simply assumed it was the flu or something, but I guess they were having
other ideas. I don't really get what they were hoping for, but I guess
that kind of stuff just flies right over my head anyways.

After I gathered all the oranges, Gale and I took them inside, and he
declared we were having hamburgers tonight. I gave him a thumbs up, and
began putting all the oranges into their little. . . fruit basket thing. It's funny,
because Gale had told me what it's called so many times, but I just can't
really remember it. It hold fruits, and that's good enough a name for me.

"Hamburgers, since it's just the two of us tonight" I heard Gale mumble
as I got myself a glass of water, and I started at him and withheld a sigh.
Poor guy.





The rest of dinner was pretty dull, and Gale headed up as soon as he was
done with dinner. I spent the rest of the night in my room, watching TV.


--------------


I guess Gale hadn't actually forgotten about my school papers, because the
next morning, he left to go turn all of them in and then run some other
errands. He left before I woke up, but Kaitlin told me after we bumped into
each other on my way to the bathroom. I told her I was probably going
to hang out in my room all day, and she laughed and said the same thing,
trying to make a joke out of being sick. I used the bathroom, and was on my
way back to my room when I felt the sudden urge to eat a bag of cookies.
So, I let my feet led me into the kitchen, and I opened the fridge and glanced
around.

Suddenly, the phone started ringing. As I was about to close the fridge door,
I heard the sounds of feet running above me, and then down the stairs and
to the phone. I peeked around the fridge to see that Kaitlin had literally
ran all the way down here to answer the phone. Must be some important
phone call, I guess.





I don't think she saw me, and might be freak her out since I told her I was
going to be in my room, so I quietly closed the fridge door and hid behind the
by the counters. She let the phone ring one more, and then picked up the
phone.

"Hello? Oh, Dr. Wren! How are you today?"
"A little better, I guess. I haven't thrown up today, which is good."
"Oh, I see." She paused, and I peeked around the counter to see her place
her hand on her stomach. I suddenly understood what was going on, and
I quickly hid behind the counter again. "Dr. Wren, am I . . . ?" her voice trailed
off. After a minute, she spoke again.





"A-are you sure? Can't you be mistaken. . .?"
"Oh. . . okay. Thank you for calling, doctor." I heard the phone click off, and
a short period of silence ensued.

Suddenly, I heard Kaitlin sobbing, and I leaned my back against the counters,
knowing exactly what the doctor had said without having to hear it. Kaitlin
continued to cry, her hands stifling her sobs. While I can't really imagine
what it'd be like to be told that you aren't having a baby, when you really
thought you were, but I can assume from Kaitlin's reaction that it wouldn't
feel good at all. I guess another lesson that can be learned here is that
eavesdropping is bad, but I couldn't help but ignore that at the moment.
listening to Kaitlin made me feel depressed.





The worst of her sobbing was over, though, when I heard her sniffing instead
of crying. She wiped her hand over her eyes and I heard her mutter, "come
on Kait, get it together." An awkward silence followed, and i closed my eyes,
not really sure what to do.





The sound of Kaitlin's shoes brought me back, and I watched as she moved
into my vision and moved up the stairs, her steps slow and dragged on. I
stood up slowly and watched her move up the stairs. I scratched my head,
and moved over to the couch, where I spent most of the rest of the day.





Gale came home around seven in the evening, and all it took for him to
understand what happened was a look from me. He told me there were
leftovers in the fridge, and hurried upstairs. I ate my dinner, watched a movie
and then went upstairs. I hesitated in front of my room, and glanced at
the master bedroom. I hung my head, sighed, and pushed the door open.
I collapsed on my bed, and soon I was drifting off into sleep, my thoughts
only on the poor baby that would never be.

Gale spent the rest of the night by their bed, head in his hands, watching
the sleeping Kaitlin.

Lesson 4: Don't be nervous

A couple days passed since the whole thing with Kaitlin, but there was a
deathly silent air that hung around the house. It wasn't really surprising,
though, since I'm sure that sort of news would make anybody depressed.
Kaitlin wasn't as bad as before, since she comes out of their room every
now and then to at least eat, but I suspected she wasn't going to get over
it that quickly. The only thing that surprised me was that I had no idea
that they wanted a kid so badly. Suddenly, I realized that I was probably
imposing on their space, and one day while I was gardening with Gale,
I urged him to hurry up on the school papers.

So, a day after I said that, he woke me up around nine and we walked a
couple blocks down to the school. Since it was Monday around nine, we
quietly stalked through the halls and up the stairs. We didn't want to draw
any necessary attention to our selves, as as we made our way to the
principals office, the chatter was kept to a minimum. Reaching the third floor
(Yes, the stupid office was all the way on the third floor), Gale pushed the
door open and we both walked in. There was a lady sitting at a desk in front
of another door, so I assumed she was a secretary or something and
wandered off to go stare out the window. Gale walked over, and began
talking with her.





"Hi, my name is Gale Eyre and we have an appointment with Mr. Welsh?" Gale
smiled, and the lady smiled back, nodded her head and began typing on
the computer in front of her.
"Alright, Mr. Eyre. Please take a seat and he'll be with you shortly" she
replied, and gestured with her hands to the chairs across from her desk.

I moved away from the window and took a seat, slouching as far as I possibly
could. I might have been the one to offer that we get this over with, but
it didn't even come close to meaning that I was going to enjoy it. School was
probably the only thing in my life that I never managed to enjoy, so I never
put in as much effort as I should have. Maybe that's what started this whole
mess, anywho. Gale took a seat besides me, and the waiting game began.
Gale suddenly turned to me, and began asking me questions.

"Are you nervous?"
"Eh"
"Do you think you can handle a new school?"
"Sure"

The questions dragged on, and I knew that Gale was simply worried for my
sake, but I couldn't help but feel a little irritated. I mean, it's just school.
I have to go, whether I like it or not.





After ten minutes, the young lady at the desk finally informed us that we
could go in now, so we stood up and headed for the door behind her. Gale,
since he's such a nice guy, had to stop and thank her. I just wanted to
get this over with. I pushed the door open, soon followed by gale. We took a
seat opposite of the man who I'm assuming the principal was, and he looked
up at us with a smile.

"Welcome Eyre family, to our fine establishment. You must be Alex?" the man
asked, staring directly at me. I shifted in my seat and nervously nodded my
head. With that, he turned to Gale and the two of them began discussing
my schooling. I managed to pay slight attention, yet conversations between
adults never seem to interesting. So, I spaced out, only catching small
bits of the conversation. None of it seemed to make sense, but I shrugged
the thought off anyways.





Though, their conversation soon came to an end, and before I knew it,
they were standing up and shaking each others hands. Mr. Welsh, the
principal, momentarily left the room, I'd imagine to speak with his secretary,
and Gale walked over to me, informing me that they changed my starting
date from tomorrow, to today. I stared at him, eyes wide. That. . .really
sucks. I wasn't even expecting that! I guess that's what I get for spacing
out during important conversations. But, . . . man. No time to prepare or
anything, huh? Stupid adults. Stupid Mr. Welsh. Stupid Gale.





Mr. Welsh came back into the room and bid Gale goodbye, who left the room
in smiles. Damn, I think I was tricked into this. Turning to me, he smiled and
told me that he was going to be my escort around campus for the morning.
I cringed at the thought, but nodded and followed after him as he left the
room. He explained the top floor - third floor - only had his office which I
thought was pretty neat, the second floor had the library, a weights room,
and the teachers lounge. The first floor was the floor that had all the
real classrooms, for english, math, science, computers. I wasn't really
interested in all that, but I nodded and listened anyways. After walking
around, we finally made it to the first floor and we stopped by a room.

"This is will be your first period class. I've printed up your schedule for you,
so there really isn't any need to be nervous or anything." He said, handing
me a small slip of paper while chuckling. "We're also pretty lenient on the
dress code, so just try to make your self comfortable. Alright, you wait
here for a second, and I'll go tell Ms. Emmerich that you're here."





With that, he turned on his heel and pushed the door open, leaving me out
in the hallway to collect me thoughts. I really wasn't too stoked to be here,
yet he seemed nice enough.





After what seemed like forever, I heard my name being called out from the
room behind me, and I froze. Oh god, so much for a quiet entrance. The
last thing I really wanted was to be stared at while just walking through
the door. The thought of that made my skin rise with goosebumps, yet
harshly rubbed my arms and stared at the ground. It's just a large group
of kids. Kids who I've never met in my life, judging me the very sec-
Okay. That's not a very good thought. Taking deep breaths, I just told
myself to relax and turned around facing the door. It's not or never, Alex.
Get a grip. Taking a couple of steps, I pushed the door open and walked
head into the lions den.